The moving, hauling, and transporting of heavy equipment, items and recreational vehicles is a common occurrence in today's society. Such equipment, items, and recreational vehicles can include wheelchairs, furniture with casters, ATVs, roto tillers, lawn tractors, heavy duty mowers, motorcycles, dirt bikes, skidoos, etc. Furthermore, such heavy equipment is most often loaded onto the beds of pickup trucks and, less often, into the storage compartments of SUVs and minivans.
Typically, the loading and unloading of the equipment is accomplished in one of two ways: either one or more individuals manually lifts up the piece of equipment, for example, and with difficulty maneuvers the piece of equipment into the storage compartment or onto the bed of the vehicle; or makeshift ramps, such as a pair of two by eights or a pair of two by tens are propped against the rear ledge or open tailgate of the vehicle. The piece of equipment is then pushed up the ramp and pushed into the rear storage compartment or on the bed of the vehicle.
The dangers and difficulties of loading and unloading such equipment are obvious. Lifting an ATV or a lawn tractor on and off the bed of a vehicle is hard, dangerous, and unsafe. Serious injury could result to all members of a party involved in lifting the equipment should even one member of the party lose his grip on the equipment. In addition, the above-mentioned types of equipment are bulky, awkward, and not even designed to be lifted, loaded, and unloaded from one surface to another surface having a different elevation from the first surface.
The dangers and difficulties are not avoided by using makeshift planks as ramps. The individuals still must push with great exertion the piece of equipment up the planks all the while maintaining the alignment of the wheels, rollers, casters, or skids with the planks so that the piece of equipment doesn't roll off the planks. In addition, in order to unload the piece of equipment, the moving parting must first align the piece of equipment with the planks, and then simultaneously restrain and allow the downward sliding or rolling motion of the piece of equipment Again, should the piece of equipment roll off the planks or get away from the moving party, serious damage to the equipment and serious injury to the members of the moving party could occur. In view of the above, there is a definite need for a more secure, convenient, safe, and solid system or assembly for loading and unloading all types of heavy, awkward equipment on and off of transport and hauling vehicles.
Thus, the prior art discloses a variety of ramp assemblies for pickup trucks, trucks, and vehicles in general.
For example, the Wren patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,957) discloses a detachable truck bed extension and loading ramp that includes a base plate and foldable upper and lower sections that provide a truck bed extension.
The Uher patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,619) discloses a retractable ramp assembly for pickup trucks that includes a built-in enclosure for a ramp with the ramp including front and rear sections hinged together with the front section resting upon the open tailgate and the rear section pivoted downward to the ground.
The Meek patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,195) discloses a rampable tailgate that includes foldable members that nest within each other when the tailgate is in the closed disposition and extend one from another when the tailgate is pivoted downward for use.
The Walkden patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,125) discloses a ramp assembly that includes a hollow platform assembly secured to the bed of a pickup truck with a sliding platform disposed within the platform assembly and which can be pulled out for use as a ramp.
The Lance patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,276) discloses a vehicle ramp system that includes a ramp that is movable between a tailgate position and a ramp position with the ramp being constructed as a single piece or in sections.
The Young Sr. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,040 B1) discloses a combination tailgate/ramp wherein the tailgate is configured in the form of ramp members hingedly attached to each other and which are unfolded from each other thereby creating a ramp.
Nonetheless, despite the ingenuity of the above devices, there remains a need for an easy-to-use, easy to access ramp assembly of collapsible design that is integrally disposed within the vehicle tailgate when not in use and which is extended therefrom for use.